Sunday, January 27, 2008

Main...err...Men Sexuality

Are you flabbergasted by looking at the headline?

After all, it's not very often that we come across this term.

Time stands alibi that since ages mankind has exploited the female form for bringing alive the erotic fantasies burgeoning in their mind. This phenomenon has transcended boundaries and formed a sort of a universal law which has made Sexuality a prerogative of women world-wide. Guess this is where the first seed of gender bias was planted!!

Unlike Newton's law, this law has changed tremendously over a period of time. From being an inspiration in arousing the carnal desires in men, female sexuality is exploited in modern world for purposes, which are manifold. Ranging from shampoos to shoes, from after shave lotion to itch guard, from bicycles to cars…you name it and the product (no matter how useless it is) gets sold riding on the power of female sexuality.[This has been proved by the market researchers, so stop rubbishing this statement.]

You might be wondering why I am taking about women when the topic of my article says Men. Well, I just wanted to give you a glimpse of the vastness of this highly overrated parameter.

So, now if we see sexuality in the light of above mentioned facts, we can find a clear paradigm emerging out. Men are conspicuous in this entire picture by their absence!! Whoever said that the anatomy of a man is not attractive enough to relate it to sexuality was right then, but not anymore. Men have mushroomed on this surface with panache and swept the glamour world gradually. Could the life of normal man be left untouched by this? Trends say, NO! From various beauty pageants to films, all are exploiting this newly found charisma of men (or should we say, sexual quotient).The benefits definitely are reaped by both - them and us. They get all the money, adulation and fame in a capsule. No guesses on what we (females) get…..Isn’t it too obvious ;)

One character who has been a lead man in showing men in different color is of course our SRK. After all had you ever seen a man in beauty soap’s advertisement? He defied all preset customs and raised the bar for men by indulging into a relaxing bath in a bathtub filled with rose petals. Now that’s not what Adam’s ilk would like to display in public. Not then. Times have changed and so has the total perception of men. With SRK doing an item number in his recent flick, male sexuality has reached a new point. We had seen men flaunting their bodies in the past, but none had showed it in a manner which was being done only for Mallaika, Mallika, Koina and bunch of other item girls.These girls now surely would have to compete with their male counterparts in capturing the sensuous imaginations of people.

Perhaps, the changing times have shown that even women have carnal desires which need as much attention as does men’s. It’s time for role reversal now. Men need to be an object for satiating the amorous fantasies of women. Truly speaking this phenomenon is not entirely new. Men have been keeping the attention of women in the past in a not-so acceptable form called “Gigolos” or male escorts. The naïve readers can understand this term as comparable with “Prostitutes”.

This is not to denigrate the sexuality of either genders, but just to show that like men, women also have desires, which for ages were considered a taboo. With the intermixing of cultures and increasing acceptability of trends of the other hemisphere, society is changing is its outlook towards women. Whether this is a media created trend or an actual emancipation of women libido, one thing which comes out clear is the jubilation of fair sex.

While it may take some time for men to reach the height already scaled by women, for now we can sit back and enjoy some steamy looks (and acts) by them.

All these sexual signals displayed by advertisers play upon our most basic, primitive instincts. Though we may laugh at the idea of associating toothpaste with sex, it often is and it sells. I guess the question that follows is not really "why is this so effective on us?" but rather, "what does this do to us?" Does this type of advertising have any sort of psychological or physiological effect on us? Advertisers are playing with instincts which have been formed over a span of millions of years, so it does not seem likely that they can change our most primal ways of thinking about the opposite sex and about sex in general. However, there may lay a danger in the fact that as people become more used to advertising and more adept at deciphering the codes it is sending them, will that change the ways in which they react to these instincts? When we begin to associate the act of sex with gum, there is something intrinsically wrong with that. Unfortunately, with our capitalistic, commercialistic society being what it is, we will continually have to come to terms with the fact that washing your hair is an orgasmic – I mean organic experience.